Veteran sports writer Jim Utter covers NASCAR for The Charlotte Observer and its racing site, ThatsRacin.com. In this space, Jim writes about all things NASCAR and other forms of racing which may also be relevant ... or not.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

A look out the rear view mirror

-I know there is a going to be a lot of people who think that all of the drama that unfolded in Sunday’s AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will do wonders for NASCAR and attract a lot of fans, or perhaps bring some back for another look. That may very well turn out to be true. However, what I think is puzzling, is a couple of the reasons people think Sunday was great – one NASCAR driver showing flagrant disrespect to authority and two others getting involved in a fight on the track – have not one thing to do with the actual sport of racing. Perhaps that doesn’t matter any more. Or maybe it never did.

-Trevor Bayne is a 19-year-old development driver, now for Roush Fenway Racing, who was thrown into his first Cup start in a team he has never raced with previously and a team that doesn’t run fulltime. He finished 17th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., a driver in his 11th season in the series, running for arguably the strongest organization in the sport, was a complete non-factor and finished 25th. You figure it out because I can’t.

-I see no difference in Richard Childress Racing’s decision to swap Kevin Harvick’s pit crew with Clint Bowyer’s and the decision Sunday to swap out Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew with Jeff Gordon’s. Yes, the Johnson swap was made mid-race, but it was also made with Gordon out of the race for all practical purposes. If it was done with Gordon still in contention for a race win, that would have been different.

In all this Lone Star 500 turned out to be surprisingly good - the racing proved to be much better than is generally expected, notably the Biffle-Logano battles up front. Some more competition like this and the sport will have taken a step forward again.